Wednesday, July 15, 2015

After
17 hours of negotiation, Greece accepted a bailout plan to the tune of €86
billion euro. The settlement set forth by Greece's three creditors, "the
troika," is harsh, but it needs to be. European Commission, IMF, and ECB
officials are wary of Greece's commitment to repaying debt, and structured a
deal which left very little room for Greece to wiggle out. If Greece avoids its
required payments, or deviates from the settlement, near-automatic spending
cuts will be activated. Greek parliament votes on the settlement this week -
the three creditor institutions will then formalize and institute the plans.
Here are the key points to the settlement package: Greece must simplify its tax
code and expand its VAT. To mitigate the negative effects of widely increasing
taxes, €35 billion euro from the EU will become available for economic
stimulus. [more...]

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

As
the United States Senate prepares to call a vote on granting President Obama
Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority to finalize the Trans Pacific Trade
Agreement, (TPP), the Coalition for a Strong America submitted a strong
warning to Congress that currency manipulation must be addressed in any trade
agreement: "The Obama Administration's refusal to address currency
manipulation is stunning, considering most of the TPP partners are IMF currency
manipulation violators. If TPP does not address currency manipulation,
there is simply no way TPP can honestly be called a free trade agreement"
said Michael Bowen, the organization's National Co-Chair and Reagan Committee
inductee. The Coalition letter will be circulated to Members of Congress this
week as Congressional leadership attempts to bring Fast Track Trade Authority
to a vote. [more...]

Have
the Greeks just manipulated democracy to commit suicide - or to kill the Euro
currency, destroy a united Europe, and undermine America's economy as well? On
Sunday, July 5, Greeks voted "no" by roughly 61 percent in a national
referendum to, as the New York Times
put it, "reject bailout terms in rebuff to European leaders." In
fact, European leaders had said that their offer to rescue a Greece drowning in
debt would automatically end at midnight on June 30 if Greece failed to make a
required debt payment. The ruling radical leftist Syriza Party called for this
strange vote on a European bailout offer that had already been withdrawn five
days earlier. By voting "no," Greeks could have been voting either "yes"
or "no" to accept a conditional European bailout. And to further tilt
the outcome, Syriza violated the traditional ballot order in yes-no votes by
making its preferred "no" the first, not customary second, box to
check on Sunday's ballot. [more...]

The
Windy City has done the Beatles' "Taxman" lyrics one better by going
after streaming concerns, which happen to include Netflix, Spotify, Xbox Live
and Apple Music, among others. As brick-and-mortar retail outlets are on the
decline and costs of online services are on the rise, cash-strapped
municipalities burdened with upside down financial statements have been eyeing
the Internet for some relief. Chicago appears to have taken the lead with its
virtual raising of the price of cloud services via a new tax assessment. Since
the city is facing a massive budget shortfall, largely due to pension payment
obligations, the financially troubled city in an expansion of its "amusement
tax" is imposing a nine percent tax on any activity that involves "watching
electronically delivered television shows, movies or videos" (Netflix), "listening
to electronically delivered music" (Spotify, Apple Music), or "participating
in games, online or otherwise" (Xbox Live). [more...]